Memoirs of a Pirate

Dedicated to my mother; Rosetzu may we have many years of happy gaming

  Shipwrecked! That's what they say. A few months ago I washed ashore. I remember little of that night. When I concentrate I remember a storm, the likes of which I've never seen. It didn't seem natural. Then, red eyes? A voice? And then...nothing. Lost me ship. Lost me crew. Even lost me lucky quill. So I had no choice but to 'procure' one from me very own raven, Severus. Who's been rather cross with me ever since. But he'll come 'round. He always does. I'm glad for him, he's all I have left now. He's not your 'ordinary' raven. He...knows things...senses things. He's been with me ever since I was born. He's...chosen me. I like to think he was a gift from me mother. That would explain the odd pendant he carries around his neck. It glows the color of the sea. He won't let anyone touch it. Not even me. Not yet. I get the feeling it's not 'time' yet.

  I've been a captain of me own ship since I was five and ten. Me father wanted to marry me off to some lord of someplace called Calpheon. Ha! Does he not see the folly? What if he were to learn me secret. Not that'd I be fool enough to reveal meself. But he'd see that I don't seem to age. He'd grow suspicious. Then I'd see the tell tale greed in his eyes. The envy. The same greed that killed me mother. No! I will not suffer that same fate! So I 'borrowed' me fathers skiff and set off on me own. Never looked back. I choose me own fate. Severus accompanied me of course. As I traversed the sea it felt as though a weight has been lifted. I felt free. I will not be confined within the walls of some city. It'd feel as though I were in a cage. I wouldn't be able to hear the song of the sea. This, this is where I belong. The ocean is the only home I need.

  I came across a band of otters. They thought they'd try their 'paw' at piracy. For the adventure I'd wager. Foolish little blighters ran into a ship full of real pirates. They didn't stand a chance. I could have kept going of course. But I needed a ship. I needed a crew. If I played me cards right, I'd have both. The humans were to preoccupied with the otters to notice me skiff off in the distance. So I took me trusty sword, Sereneca and dove into the sea. Due to me heritage I can swim faster and longer than any human can. It gave me the edge I needed to board unnoticed.

  Ha! The ship is mine! Finally, me very own ship! Those men didn't know what hit them. I climbed aboard their ship and instantly joined the fray. Those otters weren't going to hold out for much longer. Green as seaweed they may be, they'd be useful. The men took one look at me and laughed. 'Yer jus a wee pup! What, ye think because ye have a sword ye can fight like a man, eh? Go back home to yer mama lass. If ye know what's good for ye.'

   'Aye, a girl I may be. But that's me ship yer standing on.'

  'Ho ho! Ye think to take me ship? Yer madder than I thought. Tell ye what. I'll give ye me ship. After I let me crew have some fun with ye. After I'm done with ye of course. Me bein' capn' all. They haven't had a woman in a while, see? Girl ye may be, we'll turn ye into a woman soon enough.' The sod and his vile crew laughed. 'If there's anything of ye left we'll keep ye on as a serving wench. Don't reckon me boys will be too gentle on ye though.' He and his crew leered at me. Me hand cleched around the hilt of me blade so hard me knuckles turned white. I had to keep me nerve though, for if I made one mistake it'd be over. So I forced meself to take a deep breath. I had the advantage. They underestimated me. That'd be their last mistake.

  'Come any closer and see which parts ye lose first.' They stopped laughing then. Now's me chance! I lept and cut me first man down. Severus flew in and distracted the next so I was able to dodge his sword. I put me own right through him. My Sereneca. She's a special blade, that. Moves like water. She's part of me. Before I left, I broke into me father's treasure room. I wasn't plannin on takin' nothin', other than his skiff, which I fully planned on giving back! Someday...

  I heard the sound of the ocean. Not from the sea itself. From behind that door. The door only me father could open. As if possessed I moved toward it. The sound of waves growing louder with each step. The song. The 'Song of the sea.' Calling to me. I put me hand on the door. And mircaulously, it opened! I cared not for the bits and bobbles that littered the room. Of which there were many. Only her. Sereneca. As soon as me hand touched the hilt, I knew she wer mine. She was mine all along.

  Sereneca and I danced around these 'men.' Laughing as I blocked each of their blows. The stunned looks on their faces as I cut them down. One by one they fell. Until only the captain remained. 'The ship is mine.' I told him. 'As is yer life.'

  'Yer only a lass! What are ye? That sword!'

  'I'm the captain. The sea is me home and tonight ye will be joining her.' I remembered how he smiled and leered. As he and his men sized me up and down. The thought turned me stomach. I picked up a flintlock pistol I 'acquired' from a former member of his crew and aimed it at him. 'Stand.'

  'No!' He spat. His bottom lip quivering in anger or fear. Maybe a bit of both.

  'Ye can die on yer feet or ye can die like a dog. On yer back. What will it be?' He growled but he stood. Albeit reluctantly. 'Walk the plank.' He looked at me as though he hadn't heard correctly. I cocked the pistol to give him some 'motivation.'

  'Well?' I asked him. He looked at me then at the pistol in me hand. On shaky legs he moved toward the plank. 'His plank.' I thought with no small amount of satisfaction. How many men had he forced off the plank. Women? Children? I took one last look at his flag. The 'Jolly Roger.' Only his was red. The bloody flag. No quarter. There wouldn't be. As he reached the end of the plank, he gulped and looked down below. I took a deep breath to steady meself and squeezed the trigger.

  I tossed the pistol aside and turned around. The otters were staring at me in awe. Truth be told I'd forgotten all about the little blighters. So focused on the fight I was and me victory. 'Well ye lot gonna stand there slack jawed all night or will ye ready the ship and hoist anchor? Seein as how I saved yer arses. Got me a ship, now all I need's a crew. What say ye?' After a chorus of 'ayes' they set in motion. I shook me head bemused at their actions and made me way to the helm. I touched the helm with reverence. Me own ship!

  An otter stood before me as I shook me head to clear it of me musings. 'Queek. Please take this as a small token of our appreciation.' Excitedly he handed me a hat. A grand looking hat with a large feather. 'Queek! Was the captain's no doubt! Found it in the cabin.' The otter looked at me hopefully. I donned the hat, and, in that moment, I felt like a true pirate. The rest of the otters looked on with excitment. 'Queek! Queek! And this key! I, uh lifted it from the captain's pocket as he slept. Must been why he was so cross with me.' I shook me head and chuckled as I accepted the key and turned it over in me hand.

  'What do ye call yerselves?'

  'The Slippery Scallywags!' He proclaimed proudly. 'Queek! This here's me crew. Or was me crew.' He added hurriedly.

  'Ye will be me first mate. What's yer name?' And after that we were 'thick as thieves.' They may not have been the brightest. Or the toughest. But they were loyal. I knew I could trust them better than any human. I trusted them enough to let them in on me 'secret.' Me father would have scolded me for such foolishness. But I didn't care. He wasn't here. We roamed the seas ever since that fateful day. Pillaging and plundering any ship we came across. As long as they surrendered their goods, we gave them quarter. That was the life. The pirate's life. And so, it was until that night. That storm.

  A man by the name of Edan saved me. He keeps queer company. A dwarf of all things! And possibly an elven woman? The dwarf talks a lot escpecially after he's had his ale. But he's good company. Reminds me of me crew. 'The crew I lost.' I thought sadly. The woman mainly keeps to herself. I think I heard Edan call her by the name 'Orwen.' She's a strange one. A far-off look in her eye.

  So here I am. Once the daughter of the leader of the 'Crow Merchants Guild.' A pirate captain of the famed 'Slippery Scallywags.' Or was that all just a dream? Each day goes by I remember less and less. The 'Song of the sea' replaced by whispers. Images appear in me mind. Memories? Dreams? A little girl dancing about with a toy sword aboard a ship. A man looking down at her with fondess. Eyes twinkling with mirth. 'Someday I'm going to be a famous pirate!' The girl says.

  The man throws back his head and laughs. 'Aye, is that so? Yer just like yer papa, ye dream big.'

  The girl stopped her sword dance and looked at him with determination. 'It's true. I'm gonna have me own ship. I'm gonna have me own crew, and they're going to call me capn.' She said proudly with her hands on her hips.

  'What if I marry ye off to some lord? Come yer fifteenth summer. Set ye up in some castle tall as the sky. Ye will be treated as a princess.'

  'That'd be boring!' She looked horrified.

  He chuckled. 'That may be so. But ye would be safe.' He looked serious then. 'This is not the life yer mother would have wanted for ye.'

  The girl looked at her father as if seeing him for the first time. He looked older than his thirty-three years. He looked sad. 'Ye never talk about me mother.' She said quietly. She couldn't remember her for she died soon after the girl was born. Sometimes she'd close her eyes at night and try to imagine what she'd look like. But no matter how hard she'd concentrate she couldn't form a picture of her. She'd squeeze her eyes so tightly she'd see stars, but never her.

  He looked away then. 'Someday when yer older. I'll tell ye about her.' He cupped the girl's chin so her blue eyes met his grey ones. 'Ye remind me of her, ye know. Same spirit. Same stubbornness.' He chuckled then released her.

  She looked at him shyly. 'Sometimes at night, I think I hear her. Her singing to me. I can't make out the words. But they make me feel warm and safe.'

  He snapped his head back to her. 'What did ye say?' He looked scared.

  'I hear singing. Outside me window at night.'

  'There's nothing there, lass. Only the sea.' He says almost to himself. 'Ye must have been dreaming.' He says as if to reassure himself. At that time a big black raven flew and landed on the girl's shoulder. 'Caw.' It cocked its head at her. Staring at her almost expectantly. She looked at the glowing pendant around its neck almost entranced by it. The bird huffed with impatience and took flight once more. 'That damned bird.' Her father grumbled.

  'It's only Severus, papa. He looks after me.' The bird has been a guardian of sorts ever since her birth. He perched atop her cradle as a babe. Now he perches upon her window at night. She feels better when he's near. She even has better dreams. Ocean dreams. Dreams she can never fully recall upon waking.

  'I look after ye. That blighted bird would do well to stay away from ye.' He said angrily. His hands were shaking. 'There are some things ye are not ready to know. It's too dangerous.' He paced angrily at the helm.

  The girl's lip trembled. 'I'm sorry papa. I didn't mean to upset ye.' A lone tear escaped down her cheek.

  The man stopped suddenly and looked at her. He took in her form and saw her shaking shoulders. Guilt hit him like an oncoming ship. He let his fear get the better of him. He gently brushed away her tear. 'Aye, it is I who should be sorry. I did not mean to make ye cry. Me little Aquafaerie. Me little faerie of the sea. I'm not upset with ye. Only worried. I don't want anything to happen to ye.' He hugged her tightly to his chest. 'It seems the ocean runs strongly in yer veins after all.' He whispered in her hair.

  His warm breath tickled her ear. She had no idea what he meant by that. 'Don't worry papa. I'll stay with ye. Forever and ever.' She hugged him back just as tightly.

  Memories flickering like reflections of candle flame on glass. But whose? They weren't mine. They couldn't be mine. Why do theses tears fall? Who was that girl? The more I try to hold on to those images, the more they fade away. Like mist over the sea. Slowly dissipating in time.

  Here I sit, alone in the ancient stone chamber. Surrounded by strangers and even stranger creatures. Goblins I think they're called. Pitiful creatures. They remind me of someone. But who? I can no longer remember. Here I sit. In a corner with me quill and the journal Edan was kind enough to get me, the sound of the dwarf snoring. This distant sound of pickaxes, hammers, and chisels. Talking, laughing, orders being given. The light of the lantern flickering off of the walls. Sleep alludes me yet again. I write to remember. The life I had before. The life I left behind. The life I'm slowly forgetting in time.

 Now a mere mercenary. A sword for hire. In a strange land. No ship. No crew. Soon no memories. Only Dreams.

Oh, thank you so much! I had a lot of fun writing it. I'm glad you liked it, lol. I really enjoy writing her and am in the process of working on the next part of her story. There's always more to tell. =)

This is the first time I see such a topic on the forums here. And it's definetly a good read. ;)

Thank you very much! =)

   Some say mermaids were created by the 'Goddess of the Seas'. That she made them in her image to swim the heavens with her for all eternity. She created merman so they could populate and create numerous mer like so many fish in the sea. Together in harmony. Elion grew jealous of the beautiful and eternal mer. "Mortals have to earn their place in the heavens. Through deeds and purity. My creation shall be in my image and though their lives will be short it will serve to test their heart." Thus he created man and cast the mer from he heavens. Which some say is how the stars came to be. They were scars from the heavens in which the mer were forced out. Man who harbored the same jealousy as their creator, did not like that they were made to live such short lives. Lives fraught with sickness, age, and grief. So, they hunted the mer in order to steal their immortality. Many were slaughtered. They say the ocean was created due to the tears the Goddess shed over the massacre of her beloved children. Through her tears, life was created. Animal and flora which mimicked the very heavens from which they were exiled. 'Tis why the seas are as blue as the heavens' they'd say. The arid desert was created from Elion in his burning resentment of mer and ruthless pursuit of the supremacy of man. The world is made up of equal parts land and sea. Each threatening to overtake the other. Land versus Sea. Man versus Mer. And on it goes. Some say sirens were what mermaids became when they lost their way. Who became bitter over the slaughter of their kin and hunted humans in return. Who can say what is true. These are stories that are passed down from sailors, fisherman, and pirates alike. As they were passed down to me from me own father. When I was young me father told me stories about me mother. Who she was. What she was. What I inherited from her. I too was born with the 'heart of the ocean.' I thought stories were all they were. I was wrong.

   Being born from the union of mermaid and human, I am unique. I am able to walk in both worlds. Land and Sea. Me father hopes that through me, our two species can coexist in peace. I am not so sure, however. Through me travels I have witnessed the ruthlessness of man. Their greed. That very ruthlessness and greed that killed me mother. They butchered me mother and carved out her heart and threw her body unceremoniously into the ocean when they got what they wanted. That's all I can see when I look at humans. Butchers, slaughterers, killers. They kill with no regard. No remorse. They sail our seas, take our fish so our children would starve, have they not taken enough from us? I may be born of both mermaid and human, but the sea is me home more than land will ever be. The sea calls to me. Her sad mournful song when I am away is almost more than I can bear. I fare no better. I cannot sleep without the lull of the ocean. The gentle rhythmic lapping of waves rocking me ship as a mother would rock her babe in a cradle. I grow restless if I remain on land for too long. Anxious. I am as much hers as she is mine. The sea I was born, to the sea I must return. I must get a new ship and set out soon. Ever since the shipwreck I have been ashore cleaning up one human's mess after another. The irony is not lost on me.

  How can there be peace between our species when they can't even have peace amongst themselves? Father says I'm the last of me kind. I am not so sure. But I aim to find out. I'll need to keep me ears open as I travel. I'll stop by every tavern if I have to. Drink has a tendancy to loosen sailors lips. If that doesn't work, there is always coin. I'll have to be careful not to draw too much attention, however. I'll need to be discreet. I also plan on traveling to Calpheon to have a look at their 'famous' library. Something tells me I'll be heading there soon on yet another 'quest' anyhow. Something about 'Balmorn.' Just writing the name makes me shiver. The whispering has gotten worse as of late. The stronger I become, the more powerful that fiend grows. Severus has grown more agitated than usual. I suspect it's the mere presence of this 'Black Spirit.' He does not like it. I know I cannot trust it, but what choice do I have? I'm a captain without ship or crew. I need answers.

Sooo nice. I will wait for next chapter. An idea - put one screenshot on overy chapter that has something with the story :)

Thank you! I'll do that. =)